South Pacific To Be Tourist Route

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32068, 16 August 1969, Page 1

South Pacific To Be Tourist Route

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 15. If it was given rights to fly to New Zealand and Australia, ! American Airlines would promote the South Pacific as a tourist route, the airline’s president (Mr G. Spater) said today.

American Airlines was recently awarded rights by the United States Government to fly the South Pacific route. Mr Spater, who is in New Zealand on a good-will visit, met the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) and Ministry of Transport officials yesterday. He said his airline would not necessarily land in Auckland could land in Christchurch. “We have to go where the people want us to go,” he said. i This would be a subject for 'discussion with the GovernIment He said that at this stage !he thought the airline would promote the route for tour-

ists by offering package tours. Americans would be able to start flights by the New Year if the air rights into New Zealand were granted. The methods of promotion would include advertising on the airline's transcontinental flights and on the airline’s after-midnight radio shows. Promotion of fishing and hunting and golf tours with professional golfers were also planned. The South Pacific would be the airline’s first route outside the Continent, and therefore it would pay a lot of attention to it. “We would like to operate a daily service west of Hawaii,” Mr Spater said. But he did not think that this number of flights could go through New Zealand. The head of the airline’s

[hotel and restaurant sub. sidlary would be sent to New Zealand to investigate the feasibility of building hotels here. “We are perfectly prepared to do this," Mr Spater said.